Maryland lacked a measure of schools' support of academic growth from kindergarten to grade 3, creating a critical accountability need under ESSA¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r? · q1
Currency · newest study 2019 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q1 i? MSDE lacked a measure of how well its schools support academic growth from kindergarten to grade 3, a critical need for its ESSA accountability system. → Lisa Dragoset 2019

Evidence¶

Lisa Dragoset 2019¶

Lisa Dragoset, Cassandra Baxter, Dallas Dotter, Elias Walsh. (2019). Measuring School Performance for Early Elementary Grades in Maryland. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education, Evaluation, and Regional Assistance, Regional Educational Laboratory Mid-Atlantic. https://www.mathematica.org/publications/measuring-school-performance-for-early-elementary-grades-in-maryland

q1 · i? · associational · r?

The report's introduction states the motivation: "MSDE lacks a measure of how well its schools are supporting the academic growth" of students from kindergarten to grade 3, motivating the K-3 growth measure developed in the study.

"Yet, as is the case for nearly every state, MSDE lacks a measure of how well its schools are supporting the academic growth of its youngest students, from kindergarten to grade 3."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• A K-3 school-level growth measure was estimated and examined, with validity and precision concerns suggesting cautious use for accountability — related
• Schools' K-3 growth estimates are likely less valid than grade 3-4 growth estimates but have similar precision — related
• Schools' K-3 growth estimates are much less precise for smaller schools than for larger schools — related
• Administering the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment to a subset of students per classroom greatly reduces precision of schools' K-3 growth estimates — related
• The overall Kindergarten Readiness Assessment score predicts grade 3 achievement about as well as combinations of its subscores — related
• Educator evaluation systems combine student growth measures with other performance measures such as classroom observation scores to identify highest- and lowest-performing teachers — related
• More than three of four ESSA plans (41 of 53, 77%) include a postsecondary readiness indicator as a scoring element in state accountability systems — related